Here, you are urged and encouraged to run your mouths about something important.

Saturday, July 17, 2010

WOW! WASHINGTON POST OMBUDSMAN ON BLACK PANTHER CASE

Those justifiably bemoaning the fact that the mainstream media has been AWOL on the Black Panther voter intimidation case have gotten a boost, courtesy of the Washington Post's ombudsman, Andrew Alexander, who questions the paper's negligence of the story for so long. Leading up to his conclusion, Alexander seems to bandy back and forth with both sides of the issue but ultimately draws the correct conclusion - shine sunlight on the story.

The Post should never base coverage decisions on ideology, nor should it feel obligated to order stories simply because of blogosphere chatter from the right or the left.

But in this case, coverage is justified because it's a controversy that screams for clarity that The Post should provide. If Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. and his department are not colorblind in enforcing civil rights laws, they should be nailed. If the Commission on Civil Rights' investigation is purely partisan, that should be revealed. If Adams is pursuing a right-wing agenda, he should be exposed.

National Editor Kevin Merida, who termed the controversy "significant," said he wished The Post had written about it sooner. The delay was a result of limited staffing and a heavy volume of other news on the Justice Department beat, he said.

Eric Holder should be nailed? Strong language.

I find it interesting that the Washington Post Ombudsman is throwing down the gauntlet on the Black Panther case one day before defense testimony is set to begin in the Blagojevich corruption trial.